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Education

Hearn received a B.A. degree from Bethany College in 1972, a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1977, and an L.L.M. degree from the University of Virginia's Graduate Program for Judges in 1998.[3] She received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Charleston School of Law in 2010.[4]

Political ideology

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices in their paper, State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns. A score above 0 indicated a more conservative leaning ideology while scores below 0 are more liberal. Hearn received a Campaign finance score (CFscore) of 0.69, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This is more conservative than the average CF score of 0.47 that justices received in South Carolina. The study is based on data from campaign contributions by judges themselves, the partisan leaning of contributors to the judges or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study is not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic gauge of various factors.[6]